After the moon landing: Intuitive Machines and NASA hope for a second life for ‘Odysseus’ – Intuitive Machines firmer

As expected, the lander’s solar batteries would probably go empty on Thursday night because the sun no longer reached the landing site, Intuitive Machines and NASA announced at a press conference on Wednesday.

However, it is hoped that the “Nova-C” lander, nicknamed “Odysseus” or “Ody”, may be able to contact it again when the sun reaches its location again in around two weeks.

“We’ll pack Ody up for the cold and see if we can wake him up again when the sun comes back,” said Steve Altemus, head of Intutive Machines. Although this was not part of the mission’s original plan and it was by no means certain that it would work due to the possible effects of the cold on the batteries, among other things, it was decided to try it in order to possibly collect further data to be able to. Overall, it has been a “very successful mission” so far, said Altemus. “What a great job this resilient and courageous lander has done.”

Last week, “Odysseus,” the first US device to land on the moon in more than 50 years. However, according to Intuitive Machines, “Odysseus” tilted slightly when it touched down and is now tilted.

However, data can still be collected and the lander has already sent images to Earth. The recordings confirmed, among other things, that “Odysseus” landed in a crater called “Malapart A” within a radius of 1.5 kilometers from the originally targeted landing site – and is therefore further south on the moon than any other spacecraft has ever been. Scientists suspect numerous mineral resources in the area.

The “Nova-C” lander is about the size of an old-fashioned British telephone booth, has aluminum legs, weighs around 700 kilograms and can carry around 130 kilograms of cargo. NASA has allocated a large part of it with research equipment and other material, while commercial companies have secured the rest for their projects. The US artist Jeff Koons also sent along 125 miniature stainless steel sculptures.

The mission is part of NASA’s “CLPS” (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program. With this program, the US space agency wants to collect as much knowledge as possible on its own way back to the moon comparatively cheaply and efficiently by awarding contracts for lunar landings to private companies and working with them.

Moon landings are considered to be technically extremely demanding and often go wrong. This year alone, two planned landings have turned out differently than hoped.

Intuitive Machines shares temporarily gained 3.36 percent to $6.08 in NASDAQ trading.

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